Rotary seat for vehicle

A rotary seat for a vehicle, comprising:

• a support shaft mounted upright on a floor of the vehicle;
• a seat cushion member rotatably supported on said support shaft;
• driving means connected to said seat cushion member for automatically rotating said seat cushion member between a direction toward a front of said vehicle and a direction toward a side door of said vehicle;
• means for disconnecting said driving means from said seat cushion member to allow said seat cushion member to be manually rotatable, said disconnecting means comprising a rodlike member provided on one of said vehicle floor and said seat cushion member eccentrically with a center of rotation of said seat cushion member, and a pair of engaging surfaces provided on the other one of said seat cushion member and said vehicle floor, said rod-like member having a locus of movement with respect to one of said vehicle floor and said seat cushion member, said engaging surfaces being movable along the locus of movement of said rod-like member, independently of movement of said seat cushion member, said engaging surfaces being separated by a distance substantially equal to a total range of movement of said rod-like member;
• and
• control means for controlling said riving means and said disconnecting means to place said seat cushion member in an automatic rotating mode or a manual rotating mode, and said control means including means for controlling said disconnecting means to place said seat cushion member in said automatic rotating mode by pushing said rod-like member with one of said engaging surfaces, and for placing said seat cushion member in said manual rotating mode by positioning said engaging surfaces at extreme ends of said locus of movement of said rod-like member.